EPISODE · Jul 30, 2026 · 41 MIN
How Two Founders Made Impossible Reservations Possible
from Suite Success: Masters of Hospitality · host Skift
On this episode of Suite Success, host Katie Cline sits down with Mena Barakat and Sarah Goldring, co-founders of ResX, a New York-based reservation exchange platform that’s changing the way people access some of the hardest-to-book restaurants. What began as an Instagram page where two friends shared reservations they could no longer use has grown into a thriving technology platform with more than 150,000 users—all without raising venture capital. In this episode, Mena and Sarah share the unlikely origin story behind ResX, why they deliberately spent years doing everything manually before building an app, and how staying incredibly close to their customers helped them create a product people genuinely wanted. They also discuss the changing economics of restaurant reservations, the influence of social media on dining culture, and why they're on a mission to make dinner feel spontaneous again. This episode is brought to you by Lodgify & Bilt Timestamps: 00:00 Welcome to Suite Success 00:39 Meet the founders of ResX 01:29 Company Origin Story 03:06 Launching on Instagram 04:26 Building Community 06:24 What Restaurants Thought 07:40 Monetization 09:17 Bootstrapping 10:46 Going Full Time 12:20 Building a Team 14:17 Valentine’s Day Rush 16:29 Why Reservations are Hard 19:12 Co-Founder Dynamics 21:20 Hardest Moments 24:12 Future Vision 26:52 Rapid Fire 37:08 Suite Summary Connect with Mena and Sarah: Mena on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mena-barakat/ Sarah on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sarah-goldring/ ResX Website: https://www.resx.co/ Links: Apple Podcasts - Link Spotify - Link Suite Success Website - Link Connect with Katie
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How Two Founders Made Impossible Reservations Possible
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